Courtesy: USA Diving
GOLD COAST, Australia – Krysta Palmer (Carson City, Nev./Reno, Nev.) clinched a spot in the women’s 3-meter finals after finishing second in her semifinal group on day two of the Gold Coast Grand Prix. Lauren Reedy (Rochester Hills, Mich./Columbia, Mo.), who also competed in the same semifinal group as Palmer, placed fourth and completed competition seventh overall.
Thursday’s tournament consisted of two semifinals with six divers in each, with the top three divers from each group advancing to the finals. Semifinal groups were comprised by divers ranked by either 12-10-8-6-4-2 or 11-9-7-5-3-1 following the men’s preliminaries. Palmer and Reedy both competed in the group B semifinals after placing ninth and fifth in the preliminary round.
Palmer scored 284.05 points in Thursday’s semifinals to seal her spot at second place and second overall, just 18.20 points behind China’s Huang Xiaohui. The Nevada native began competition at third place, albeit quickly climbing up to second in the next round following her best dive- a front 2 ½ somersaults with 2 twists for 68.00 points- and first place in the third round off a front 3 ½ pike for 57.35 points. Despite slipping on her final dive, Palmer placed within the top three to advance to Saturday’s finals. Reedy, who struggled to find consistency throughout semifinals, finished the Semifinal B group in fourth place and seventh overall with 258.55 points.
The Gold Coast Grand Prix continues Friday with David Boudia (Noblesville, Ind./West Lafayette, Ind.) competing in the men’s 3-meter final and Katrina Young (Shoreline, Wash./Tallahassee, Fla.) contending in the women’s 10-meter final at 10 p.m. ET. The FINA Gold Coast can be watched live on FINA TV.